ABSTRACT
In a book about prevention, the reader might expect an early definition of what exactly is to be prevented. However, this is far from a straightforward undertaking. Mental ill-health – something linked to emotions and thinking, reflected in behaviour, in adults and children; something not as it should be. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) IV described mental disorder as:
a clinically significant behavioural or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and that is associated with present distress (eg a painful symptom) or disability (ie impairment in one or more important areas of functioning) or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom.
(APA, 1994)